Dial and marking for watches and like articles



H: F. CUNTZ.

DIAL AND MARKING FOR WATCHES AND LIKE ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-8,1921.

' 1,414,62 Patented May 2,1922. I

IN VEN TOR.

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IHERMANN F. CUNTZ, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN RADIUM COMPANY, OF 'NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DIAL AND MARKING FOR WATCHES A ND LIKE ARTICLES.

specification of LettersPateiitt Patented May 2 1922 Original application filed xui a, 1921, Serial No. 482,095. Divided and this application filed October a,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMANN F. CUN'rz, a citizen of the United States, resident of the city of Hartford, county of Hartford, State 5 of Connecticut, and whose post-office address is No. 7 East 42nd Street, borough Of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dials and Markings for Watches and like Articles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrative of particular embodiments A of my invention,,this being a division of my applica tion Serial No; 482,095, filed July 2, 1921, allowed October 8, 1921. Y

. This invention relates tolthe dials for such devices and instruments as watches, gauges, meters and other devices, and particularly the graduations on such dials, and for like or similar devices, as-may appear from the following specification. In particular, the invention relates to providing them in .a form or construction permitting advantageous equipment with luminous material, so that the indicators or the graduations may be readily visible and readable at night andat the same'time affording accurate and easy reading of the graduations or readily discerning of an indicator or indicators and their by outside light such as by daylight or when visible by ordinary illumination.

The application of-luminous material involving compounds of radio-active and radio-responsive material, has heretofore been practised by embodying suohpermanently luminous. compounds in a recess in the hands I of instruments and particularly in watch thematerial is held spread over a s'uflicientarea to provide an amount of luminosity to- "an extent and for a suflici'ent distance suite able for the articular instruments or case involved; or in some. cases the permanently self-luminous compound is spread over the surfaceiofahand or on a dial} with suitable lit in' place. A

protectivecovering to keep with a considerreason ble area is require able width with respect length in a line, intended to .be lumino s 'inthe dark, sufficient 'to provide visible uminosity at a. distance of a. foot or several feet or yardsdepending upon the particular use to which L position with respect to graduations and clock hands so that a su'flicient bulk of Serial No. 506,312.

the permanently illuminated article is ada' t-' ed. Inview of the relatively larger wi th .or line required for the darktime luminous effect, the indicator, hand, or pointer, and

particularly dial figures, markings or the graduation so equipped, are of a greaterproblem to provide such devices with permanently luminous material in a manner whereby accurate reading of the time or accurate reading of instruments, as to the registration of pointers with graduations, can be assured, or in any. event can become a matter of greater accuracy than hasheretofore been the case by day and night.

In the case of pointers for indicators and hands for watches, a broad surface covered with radio-luminous material, backed up by a relatively dark background involves an inaccuracy incident to .a broad line comparedwith a very fine hair line or narrow marker which should be used in ordinary or full illumination for accurate determination of calibration registration. I, therefore, pro

vide a pointer or hand with surface of a rela tively sufiicient width to carry an ample area of radio l uminous material for. the desired 1 degree of visibility in the darkness, but I provide centrally or in the axis of such a pointer or hand, a narrow contrasting line of non-luminous material and of contrasting color with'the'luminous material in the daytime or .when subject to outside illumination; g Such central line of non-luminous ma terial provides for accurate reading in the daytime, and the provision of such a line on I the pointer, calibration, markin of numerals, supplements the art hereto ore known by giving to'the' use of radio-luminous cc 1- poundon instrumentsand other devices .l-Il assuranc'e of accurac forordinary reading by outsideli'ght; which has not heretofore been the case, p A

'In the case of markings such as numerals or "g'raduations which is the subjectmatter of this divisional application, I provide accurate line or lines in the middle, or with.

in the field of a much larger radio luminous area, thereb supplying a well-defined distinctly rea able or discernible daytime marking.

The provision of such: distinct non-luing self-luminous area.

the day time.

minous accurate mark in a marking or dial graduation, or otherwise, involves modifications of structures heretofore used which may be provided in numerous ways but require structural changes in such parts not heretofore known and of which particular embodiments I have herewith illustrated and will now describe in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig.-1 is a plan view of a fragmentary portion of a dial showing a figure with light-time reading medial mark within the field. of a self-luminous figure area, with the hands of a time-piece in relative position of use.

Fig. 2 is a cross'section of the dial and dial marking or figure on an enlarged scale, on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the figure and dial on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing a modified construction. I

Fig. 4 is a sectional. view of the figure or dial marking on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing a further modified form.

In the embodimentof the medial or daylight reading line in dial figures, characters or other marking, the illustration in Fig. 1 shows such a line for visibility with outside light, as V illustratedin the dial graduation 3. On either side of the non-luminous line V a border of radio-luminous material U is provided of a width which is greater than the line V in the form illustrated. This figure 3 on the dial R pro-.

vides a broad field of the desired area to assure self-luminosity in amount sufficient to be clearly visible, and the comparatively narrow line V in the fieldof self-luminous area, is not any broader than necessary to be readily seenby outside light such as in The radio luminous field U is usually white or of a faint greenish or pink tint and is hardly distinguishable from the white or slightly tinted enamel face usually employed on Watch or clock dials, such as B, so that in day-light or ordinary light reading of the figure nothing is seen on the dial R except the central non-luminous line V of a contrasting color, usually black or relatively much darker than the surround Thus fine line figures can be made in con formity with the usual dimensions of dial markings for day-light visibility, instead of the broad expanse of black letters.

'The construction of hands or indicators with luminous material and a medial lionluminous line, is shown in Fig. 1 as superposed on a dial in which the minute hand has the tip a with the narrow medial nonluminous line F for-day reading, flanked on either side by a relatively broad band D ofself-luminous, that is radio-luminous. material, with the hub wattached to a pivot in the usual form passing through the centre of the dial. The hour hand is of a modified construction with a radio-luminous field broader and of different configuration Q, than the minute hand, in order that the hour hand may be distinguished when reading in the dark from the minute hand. A straight non-luminous medial line 0 extends through the self-luminous field in a radial direction from the hub n and terminates at the tip at. These non-luminous medial lines on the hands provide a fine or accurate line of direction recognized by those familiar with instruments, as greatly aiding accuracy in the observation of a moving hand or indicator, when reading an instrument, because the projection of such a line leads the eye accurately to the graduations or dial marktimepiece just as accurately readable in the day-time as the finely calibrated instruments heretofore in use only for day-light service.

In Fig. 2 the section on enlarged scale shows radio-luminous material U packed into a recess T in the dial, and in the middle of the radio-luminous material the nonluminous line V is the edge of a flange or small rigid wall embedded in the recess. As here shown the upper or visible edge V of this ridge or flange is slightly above the sur face of the dial R, and on either side of this central ridge V the radio-luminous material is applied in cavity T, constituting the area U of relatively much greater width than the non-luminous line V. In this form a mixed radio-active and rodio-responsive material forming the self-luminous compound can be embedded and be securely held, and in the application of the compound a tool serving to spread or pack the material in the cavity can scrape the edge of the ridge, thereby clearing the non-luminous line V of surplus material and at thesame time laying the self-luminous compound on either side with entire uniformity and evenness. Furthermore, if desired radio-responsive material may be formed in the cavity and scraped off to the uniform height of the ridge V, and thereafter radio-active material dusted onto the surface and packed down onto and into the sub-compound or radio-responsive material, in the manipulation of which the nonluminous line V on the ridge or flange provides a uniform guide in limiting the compression and fixing of the material. This construction lends itself to facility and uniformity of finish besides providing secure means of holding the selfluminous compound, and holding it uniformly on either side of the non-luminous medial line.

As shown in Fig. 3, 'the ridge may be a minute bar of hard material suitably secured to the surface of the dial, with the selfluminous mixture embedded on either side, or the radio-responsive material embedded with radio-active material dusted thereon. In either case the medial non-luminous line provided b the ridge or flange-M serves to hold the se f-luminous material in place and during application it is alimitingguide for the tool serving to spread the mixture or compound, and also a limiting guide when pressure is applied to the compound to firmly secure it in position in the lateral crevices on either side formed by the ridge M and the surface of the dial.

,In Fig. t the ridge B provides the nonluminous line and as there shown is formed as a flange projecting from the material of the dial surface. Between the ridge B, which limits the depth of compound flanking it on both sides, the luminous compound is-spread on either side tapering off to the surface of the dial or to a slight depression forming an opposite retaining ledge for the purpose of adding security for the selfluminous material and to provide a predetermined depth of material at the outer edge of the luminous area, in order to assure the required amount of self-luminous compound to the very edge of the band U in the mark!- ing or figure or other'graduation.

The light emission from radio-luminous areas is such that with a total area; and with proper width of luminous line in proportion to its length sufficient'for the desired legibility in the dark, there will be a light emission substantially the value of the entire area, irrespective of and'with'out any interference by the relativelynarrow non-luminous medial line or ridge. That is, in the dark the entire graduation or re will ap; pear luminous, the light emission bridging therelatively narrow non-luminous line. On the other hand, with outside light as in daylight the luminous material area willbe ,pract cally invisible on a dial field of similar shade, while the non-luminous medial line when made of contrasting color will be the onl visible marking or graduation vvisible an can be a'hair line. or as fine a marking as in the graduations or timepiece figures heretofore used for accurate observation, and

with no apparent increased breadth in the in the introduction of readable-in-the-dark watches, clocks, com asses and other indicating instruments an devices, is well-known to have involved at first the serious objection of very broad graduation lines or very large dots or broad figures, in order to pro vide a sufficient area so that the permanently self-luminous or radio-luminous material would serve the night-reading object. The clumsiness of such structures impeded for years the more general. adoption of'the day and night reading parts of timepieces and other instruments, and the necessity of proinstruments would be equally readable by day led to the provision of a border or two bor U rs, one on either side ofthe self-lumr nous areas, and in other cases led to the use of a contrasting background. But in all cases this still involved the broad and inaccurate mark or graduation usually white,

viding means so that the same night-visible for day reading with its attendant objeccoating of radio-luminous material, likiewise means for more securely holding the material against displacement, as well as providing uniformity throughout the length of the area of the luminous surfaces.

Other advantages will be appreciated in the practice of this invention, facilities in manufacture, as well as econemies'and speed of production with uniformity of product,

add to the value and durability and other characteristics of the finished product.

While various modifications may be made I in construction and arrangement, as well as material and use, besides the specific embodiments herein shown and described, my in- 'ventionis not confined to these specific embodiments nor to details herein shown,-

but what I claim anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

y 1. A reading part for a timepiece or like article comprising a base, a ridge projecting from said base forming a figure or graduation device, permanently self-luminous comound imbedded on either side of said ridge in the recess formed between the wall of the ridge and the adjacent surface of the base.

2. A figure or numeral for dials and like articles for night and day reading, compris .ing a base with a projecting ridge of the ded sired configuration of day readin radio-luminous compound imbedded 1n the recesses formed'by each side of said ridge and the adjacent base surface.

' 3. A figure or marking for dials or the like for readability day and night, comprising a radio-luminous compound and means for. securing the same, a surface base to which the same is secured anda medial line formed of non-luminous material within the area of the luminous material surface.

' 4. A figure or marking for dials or like articles comprisinga confined area of radioluminous material and means for permanently holding the same in position, a single line of non-luminous material of contrasting color of the same configuration as the luminous area and positioned medially between the borders of the luminous area.

5. In a dial for Watches or like articles, a recess having a predetermined figureor mark outline, a single ridge or like member medially positioned within the borders of said recess and radio-luminous material imbedded in said recess with its surface adjacent said ridge below the top of said ridge.

6. A figure or marking for dials or like articles for visibility in the dark and light, comprising a non-luminous mark for visibility with external light, a radio-luminous border surrounding and conforming to the non-luminous mark, and providing a. selfluminous area on either side of said mark visible in the dark.

7. A figure or marking for dials or like articles for visibility in the dark and light, comprising a non-luminous line of the desired configuration and a border of radioluminous material on each side having an area of greater extent than the non-luminous line.

8. A figure or marking for dials and like articles for visibility in the dark and light, comprising a base, a figure formed of radioluminous surfaced material, a projection of said material above the surface, and a nonluminous central line above the plane of the base midway between the borders of said luminous surface.

9. In combination with a dial, a gradua-. tion or marking comprising a radio-luminous area and a non-luminous line of the same configuration as the luminous area located medially in the radio-luminous area, said non-luminous line having a width substantially less than the adjacent width of the radio-luminous mark.

10. In combination with a dial, a figure graduation fixedly secured thereon comprising a radioluminous area forming the contour of said figure and substantially matching the color of the adjacent dial surface, a non-luminous line of contrasting color conforming to the same configuration as the luminous area and medially positioned within said radioluminous area.

In testimony whereof, I have signed" my name to this specification, in the presence of. two subscribing witnesses, this 7 day of October, 1921.

HERMANN F. CU N TZ.

Witnesses H. MUCHMORE, ROBERT B. MCOAGUE. 

